Chapter 12 Section Eleven
It appears that the investigation into the "Reichsbank affair" was initially heading in the right direction.The investigation outline repeatedly emphasized that the real murderer of the "Imperial Bank incident" is likely to be a doctor or a person in the medical field, a demobilized soldier who had served as a health officer in the army.In order to investigate this case, the police across the country investigated about 5,000 suspects, all of whom were related to drugs according to the investigation outline.
However, Hirasawa Sadatsu has nothing to do with medical care and medicine professionally.He is just a painter.It is impossible to imagine that his knowledge of poisons is so rich that he can make such detailed calculations and deployments in the Imperial Bank.
Why wasn't the investigation always carried out on those connected with the old Army, as it had in the early days?The detective team arrested Hirasawa based on the two clues of Matsui's business card and appearance.But as mentioned above, Matsui's business card is not enough to rely on.As for appearance, the investigative team was repeatedly reminded in the investigative outline: "The characteristics of the murderer are unreliable based on the testimony of eyewitnesses alone, and should not be limited to this."
But in fact, Jukii Police Department Bubu arrested Hirasawa based on the fact that Hirasawa looked like the one sent by the investigation headquarters.
After Hirasawa was escorted to Tokyo, people at the bank identified his appearance.There are two types of testimonials: one is like, and the other is not.I won't talk about it in detail here.In short, the impression of the naked eye alone is not reliable.The investigation outline itself also reminded: "The tendency to rely too much on the characteristics of the murderer as decisive data still exists, and we have repeatedly drawn attention to it. This is just the words of one or two people, and it is not credible." (Criminal Investigation 1, 154-8) But The actual practice was exactly the opposite of this instruction, and Hirasawa was arrested.
There is no direct evidence in this case other than the poison.The writing on the back of the check, the inability of the defendant to prove that he was not there, and the business card — these factors are too worthless to be considered evidence.For example, the business card may not have belonged to the person Matsui exchanged with, but it may have been given to a third party and used in a crime.To put it in extreme terms, there is no direct proof whether the words signed on the back of the check are the handwriting of the murderer who poisoned people at the Imperial Bank.In other words, the culprit in the Imperial Bank case may not be the same person who wrote the address "Itabashi 3-3661" on the back of the check.If there is an accomplice, it may simply be that the murderer entrusted another person when withdrawing the cash.This assumption is also possible.As pointed out in the precautions in the investigative compendium, although it is said that the two people have similar appearances, it is not enough to prove it.
Investigative Headquarters had determined that there were no co-conspirators in the case, but that only meant that no one had seen a co-conspirator.The accomplice does not have to come to the bank with the principal.He may be hiding where people don't see him.
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